CHED Releases Guidelines for Nursing, Medical Students as Vaccinators vs COVID

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced on November 14, 2021 that post-graduates and undergraduate interns, clinical clerks, graduating medical students and nursing graduates can now serve as vaccinators in the on-going National COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment and Vaccination Program.

The Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 2021-003 entitled, “Interim Guidelines on the Voluntary Participation of Postgraduate/undergraduate Interns, Clinical Clerks, and Fourth Year Nursing Students in the COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment and Vaccination Program,” was released by CHED and the Department of Health, yesterday.
Under the JMC, students can volunteer as health screeners, vaccinator, and pre/post-vaccination monitors with the supervision of licensed physicians and nurses.

The memorandum provides guidance to participation of higher education institutions (HEIs), hospitals with National Internship Program and all governance levels participating in the vaccination program.

CHED Chairman Popoy De Vera stated that the additional vaccinators and support staff are critical to achieve herd immunity.

He said, “The government is now fast tracking the vaccination roll-out as more COVID-10 vaccines arrive in the country. Yesterday, and for the 2nd time, the country breached the 1 million daily target for vaccination. As we increase the number of vaccination sites and increase daily targets, these additional vaccinators and support staff are critical to achieve herd immunity in the next two months.”

The post-graduate/undergraduate interns, clinical clerks and fourth year nursing students who will volunteer will be trained and supervised by health professionals. Their volunteer work and completed number of hours will be credited in their internship and will be certified by the head of the vaccination team in the particular vaccination site where they rendered their services.

The voluntary participation of these students will be implemented regardless of the area’s risk classification.

CHED will disseminate the policy to and orient CHED Regional Offices, HEIs, and hospitals with National Internship programs, monitor the implementation of the policy, and provide data to DOH as to the number of HEIs/hospitals participating and volunteers deployed.

Article by: Amiel Jansen Demetrial